1830, American English, from Pennsylvania German hexe "to practice witchcraft," from German hexen "to hex," related to Hexe "witch," from Middle High German hecse, hexse, from Old High German hagazussa (see hag). Noun meaning "magic spell" is first recorded 1909; earlier it meant "a witch" (1856).

hex

A jinx or curse; the Indian Sign, Whammy: I lose every time, must be a hex on me

[1909+; ultimately fr German Hexe, ''witch'']

The Dictionary of American Slang, Fourth Edition by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. and Robert L. Chapman, Ph.D.Copyright (C) 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers.Cite This Source

hex in Technology

1. hexadecimal. 2. A 6-pack of anything (compare quad). Neither usage has anything to do with magic or black art, though the pun is appreciated and occasionally used by hackers. True story: As a joke, some hackers once offered some surplus ICs for sale to be worn as protective amulets against hostile magic. The chips were, of course, hex inverters. 3. The hash character, used to introduce hexadecimal constants in some assembly languages. [Jargon File] (1995-03-06)